The Tianhe tax bureau has been offering preferential policies and improving its services to stabilize the development of foreign trade enterprises amid the epidemic prevention and control period.

Applications for export rebates will be processed as they come in, while multiple declaration channels have been opened by the bureau. Enterprises with several tax refund requirements are also allowed to declare multiple times within a month to further shorten their time to withdraw funds.

"The epidemic impacted foreign trade immensely, and we're also under a lot of financial pressure," said Ms Luo, the financial administrator of Guangzhou Yike Trade Development. "Thanks to the fast export tax rebate, we can operate smoothly." The company's tax refund from January to March this year totaled 14.74 million yuan ($2.31 million).

Foreign trade enterprises in Tianhe reported exports of $1.2 billion in the first quarter of this year, increasing 23.29 percent from the same period last year. The amount of export tax refunds handled by the tax bureau increased by 7.25 percent year on year to 652 million yuan.

In addition, the Tianhe tax bureau and Tianhe Customs have agreed to work together to promote classified management of export enterprises and joint AEO certification incentive work.

JH Glassware, which is taking part in the 131st Canton Fair online, claims that "cloud" counseling and an electronic export tax rebate have significantly reduced the company's financial workload. The company can also benefit from favorable measures like obtaining tax refunds within two to three working days, which accelerates the turnover of cash, because it has been classified as a first-class export enterprise by the tax office and an AEO certified enterprise by the customs. From January to March of this year, it handled a tax refund of around 4.77 million yuan.

China SDIC International Trade Guangzhou has been purchasing cotton from Xinjiang and selling it to local businesses, who then process it into clothing and other products for export to countries all over the world. It bought over 280,000 metric tons of cotton in Xinjiang in 2021, representing almost 10 percent of the region's yearly cotton output. However, it overstocked commodities worth more than 1 billion yuan, causing significant capital turnover issues.

The Tianhe tax office stepped in to assist the company, advising it on how to manage the VAT increment retention tax rebate. It was in charge of the company's tax rebates, which totaled 37.82 million yuan.